This functionality is based on /home/user/clone_my_system/Vagrantfile. This Vagrantfile specifies a number of aspects:

Which Vagrant box (e.g. dataspects/ubuntu-1404-temp) will be used as the basis for the VirtualBox virtual machine into which the system will be cloned. In order not to have to adapt the box when making configurative changes to the system being cloned (e.g. adding MediaWiki extensions), the box shall be provisioned up to the Conceptual Layer "Infrastructure". Subsequent provisioning will be carried out by pertinent Ansible tasks specific to your environment and Duplicity modalities.

Connecting to the box is necessary in order to set up the shared folders as specified in the Vagrantfile. This functionality requires the box to run the correct version of the VirtualBox guest additions. In case your workstation upgrades its version of VirtualBox, the box' version of the VirtualBox guest additions need to be matched to the workstation's version of VirtualBox. The above mentioned vagrant-vbguest Vagrant plugin facilitates this process upon cloning a system. An alternative to this is to repackage the box after having installed the correct VirtualBox guest additions. Besides for development reasons, a shared folder is necessary if Duplicity snapshots are obtained through Dropbox, see https://dataspects.com/easy-system-cloning.